Subscapularis is a muscle from the bovine carcass with a triangular shape in situ. It may have a rectilinear appearance when removed from the carcass. Anatomically, the Subscapularis fills the subscapular fossa and inserts into the lesser tubercle of the humerus and the front of the capsule of the shoulder joint. Subscapularis muscle is known to be one of the more tender muscles in a typical bovine carcass. However, this muscle is underutilized as a premium cut because of fabrication difficulties. This muscle has a complex internal and external connective tissue system that runs through the lean portion and there is no known method of fabricating it effectively (in terms of labor, yield, shape, etc.) into steak. Current beef carcass fabrication is such that this muscle could end up in as many as four sub-primals: (a) the beef chuck roll, (b) the beef rib, (c) beef short ribs, and (d) beef chuck flap. Typically, portions of the Subscapularis are trimmed off and are allocated as meat for grinding. As the sub-primals are trimmed, the remaining pieces of the lean muscle may be allocated to ground meat.
The beef Subscapularis is comparable in shear force (a metric of steak tenderness) to the beef Flat Iron steak (Infraspinatus) and is significantly more tender than the beef Petite Tender steak (Teres major). The Subscapularis weighs approximately 700 g-1100 grams (1.5-2.5 pounds) whole and untrimmed, and approximately 700 g-800 grams (1.5-1.8 pounds) (trimmed).
Consequently, the common practice has been to grind this particular muscle into ground beef. However, there is a substantial economic incentive to fabricate it into a steak. For example, as of date Jun. 27, 2012 the value of this muscle as ground beef is approximately $3.3-$3.7 per kg ($1.5-$1.7 per pound). By way of comparison, this same muscle might bring $7.7 to $8.3 per kg ($3.5 to $3.8 per pound) (based on beef Petite Tender prices) if it could be produced as a steak.
Heretofore, as is well known in the meat preparation arts, there has not been a method for effective and reliable fabrication of steak from a Subscapularis muscle. Accordingly, it should now be recognized, there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a method of meat preparation that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.